Guaranteed Healthcare

Some of you may be too young to remember the agony of Vietnam. I remember it well.

On Independence Day, 2008, those of you who weren't around in the sixties and seventies, might like to know how an older generation took down a government and changed the course of a nation.

Some of you may not remember the selective service system and the spectre of young Americans being conscripted to fight in another illegal and immoral war. I remember it well. I remember my brother's draft card. We had a lottery in those days, my brother got lucky, he pulled a low number.

Others, like our current commander-in-chief, joined the National Guard as a means of evading a likely death sentence in Vietnam. As the scion of wealth, Mr. Bush got lucky and got a preferred assignment (from family connections), and was assigned a safe position in the Texas Air National Guard.

So why on a blog devoted to bringing guaranteed and affordable single-payer healthcare to all Americans, am I reminding you of those dark and terrible days?

Because as we know, changing a country requires much more than just showing up to vote.